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megasquirt and so on
whitstella - 29/1/11 at 05:02 PM

hi

me being new to all of this car building sketch, i'm still learning as i build and i'm trying to get my head round things i know nothing about. i've seen these omex, emerald and so on ecu could someone tell me if they are worth the extra cash and what are the advantages. which is the best model and make if it helps i'll be using a 2l zetec with bike carbs, and i dont know much about them too. but life is 1 big learning curve which is made bigger building a locost.

many thanks steve


adrianreeve - 29/1/11 at 05:09 PM

If you're running bike carbs, then you'll need something like megajolt, which just controls the ignition side, megasquirt does fuel injection too. All the biggies, OMEX etc do ignition only ecus, but megajolt is pretty good for the money.

If you do want a megasquirt, I may be selling mine, a pro-built Megasquirt 2 V3, with tacho output and knock sensing capability.

PM me if you're interested.

Cheers

Adrian


HowardB - 29/1/11 at 05:23 PM

sorry to hijack your thread, but I have a question about megasquirt,...

My Fury has 2000 Zetec engine, and megasquirt, the question is are there places where one can take it to get it set up properly, as I am not really very good at that kind of thing,....

The second question is really a bit blue sky, and that is since is still on it's original inlets, what is the least costly next step to improve the situation.

many thanks in advance, and apologies for hijacking,


MakeEverything - 29/1/11 at 05:34 PM

Hi there,

If its all a learning curve, then i would honestly go with a pre-manufactured unit rather than megasquirt or megajolt.

Im no stranger to electronics and technology, but its had me stumped a few times.

There are also a few pitfalls along the way. My advice if you do decide to go megasquirt / jolt, then give phil ringwood a shout. www.extraefi.co.uk


MakeEverything - 29/1/11 at 05:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by HowardB
sorry to hijack your thread, but I have a question about megasquirt,...

My Fury has 2000 Zetec engine, and megasquirt, the question is are there places where one can take it to get it set up properly, as I am not really very good at that kind of thing,....

The second question is really a bit blue sky, and that is since is still on it's original inlets, what is the least costly next step to improve the situation.

many thanks in advance, and apologies for hijacking,


My advice is to copy your text, delete the post from this thread and start your own.

The Original Posters questions as well as yours will confuse the whole thread leaving not many answers for either of you. If you had hijacked me, then i would be none to impressed as it detracts from the original questions.


matt_gsxr - 29/1/11 at 06:04 PM

I think megasquirt is great.

If you treat this car building lark as a learning exercise then megasquirt is for you.

If you megasquirt now, then you can install EFI later.

The benefits of megasquirt are that it is cheap, and open and there are lots of helpful people, so if there is a feature that you want and no-one wants to implement it then you can just do it yourself. I have no experience of the other options, but one advantage is that you can sub-out the tuning work to others more easily if you go with the mainstream more expensive stuff. There are claims that megasquirt isn't as advanced as some of the other options, but it isn't clear whether that is true or just marketing. All these ECU's will have no problems with a basic 2 litre ford engine.

Some people have had problems finding rolling roads that will help with megasquirt tuning, although as time goes on that will probably change. I have converted a gsxr1100 to EFI, added stock wheel triggering, staged injection, and ignition control, all using megasquirt with no previous experience. Now I am turboing and will control (somehow) with the MS. I have a lambda probe, and use the megasquirt tuning of the fueling, and it all works nicely.

Ms2 is nicer to use than Ms1, and probably worth the small extra initial outlay. Ms3 allows even more control (i.e. nicely implemented sequential injection) but isn't a massive breakthrough (to my mind).

If you like playing and learning then MS is great, if you want someone else to get it going for you and you want it quickly, then go with whatever your preferred tuning shop like to work with.


Matt


MakeEverything - 29/1/11 at 06:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by matt_gsxr
I think megasquirt is great.

If you treat this car building lark as a learning exercise then megasquirt is for you.

If you megasquirt now, then you can install EFI later.

The benefits of megasquirt are that it is cheap, and open and there are lots of helpful people, so if there is a feature that you want and no-one wants to implement it then you can just do it yourself. I have no experience of the other options, but one advantage is that you can sub-out the tuning work to others more easily if you go with the mainstream more expensive stuff. There are claims that megasquirt isn't as advanced as some of the other options, but it isn't clear whether that is true or just marketing. All these ECU's will have no problems with a basic 2 litre ford engine.

Some people have had problems finding rolling roads that will help with megasquirt tuning, although as time goes on that will probably change. I have converted a gsxr1100 to EFI, added stock wheel triggering, staged injection, and ignition control, all using megasquirt with no previous experience. Now I am turboing and will control (somehow) with the MS. I have a lambda probe, and use the megasquirt tuning of the fueling, and it all works nicely.

Ms2 is nicer to use than Ms1, and probably worth the small extra initial outlay. Ms3 allows even more control (i.e. nicely implemented sequential injection) but isn't a massive breakthrough (to my mind).

If you like playing and learning then MS is great, if you want someone else to get it going for you and you want it quickly, then go with whatever your preferred tuning shop like to work with.


Matt


Well put.